The 9 best and 9 worst moments of 'Stranger Things' season 4 (so far)

In a memorable exchange in the first episode of the season, Steve (Joe Keery) and Robin (Maya Hawke) talk about girl troubles. While Steve has a rotating cast of girlfriends, the stakes are a bit higher for Robin; if she asks out the "wrong girl," she risks outing herself and becoming a "town pariah."

Steve then proceeds to reassure Robin that her crush, Vicky, isn't the "wrong girl." According to him, Vicky returned "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" to the video store where he and Robin work paused at 53 minutes and five seconds — something only "people who like boobies" do.

It's a crass, but extremely funny moment of allyship from Steve Harrington, protector of lesbians, and a very fun display of friendship between the two. Keery and Hawke's repeated delivery of the word "boobies" couldn't be better.

A cherry on top is how this scene shows that Steve is truly Robin's best friend, because he's driving her to school at 7 a.m. (even though he already graduated from Hawkins High).

Overall, Will hasn't been given much to do in the first seven episodes of season four. The very little storyline he does seem to have is centered around him painting something secretly for Mike (a plot device that seems likely to lead to Will coming out as gay this season).

But the day Mike arrives to the airport, not only did he seem totally uninterested in catching up with Will — he forgot his best friend's birthday.

Back in season two, a scene between Joyce and Will included the mention that his birthday is March 22. We know from camera footage and school banners that Mike flew to California on March 22. Therefore, every single person in Will's life forgot his birthday.

Now, we must mention that the show's creators, the Duffer brothers, have since said this was a genuine writing mistake. They hadn't noticed the dates matching up, and therefore it's a less intentionally sad scene.

However, that still makes it a dreadful oversight. Poor Will! He deserves better.

As the first episode of this season reminds us, Hawkins (and our beloved cast of characters) have suffered several enormous losses over the last few years. It was about time some of the kids had a win for a change.

Watching this scene, tensions were high and it would have been a powerful emotional choice to have one (or both) of the Sinclair siblings fail in their goals. But instead, the "Stranger Things" writers decided to reward the kids for a change.

Seeing Lucas nail that buzzer shot, and on his first time off the bench no less, was so satisfying. After the hellish few years he's had, it was great to see a moment of pure joy and celebration erupt around him.

The same goes for Erica, who proved to every boy in that room that a younger nerd like her could absolutely sweep the floor with them with her perseverance and grit. Heck yeah, Lady Applejack!

Eleven hasn't been having a great time in California since moving there from Hawkins, something that she tries to conceal from her boyfriend Mike when he visits her over spring break.

It all culminates in an incident at a roller rink where Eleven's bully, Angela, drags her out to the center of the rink. The DJ calls her the "local snitch" over the intercom system and plays "Wipeout," leaving Eleven at the center of a jeering crowd of teenagers who surround her on the rink. One of the teens eventually splashes Eleven's milkshake onto her dress, causing her to fall to the floor.

The entire sequence — and Angela's cliché high school girl villainy in the first two episodes — felt too over the top. Dialogue like Angela telling Eleven that there was "no food or drink allowed on the rink" as she lorded over her in roller skates felt cringey rather than genuinely hurtful.

In the first episode of the season, Chrissy (Grace Van Dien) ventures into the woods to meet with Hellfire Club leader Eddie (Joseph Quinn), who calms her down after she sees Vecna's grandfather clock, for a drug deal.

After Chrissy gets nervous at the prospect of buying drugs, Eddie makes her laugh by recounting a story from their middle school days. It's extremely charming, which makes it a shame that Chrissy dies at the end of the show's first episode. A Chrissy and Eddie subplot would have been a joy to watch.

As we already explained here, the flashback to Hopper's "death" was a letdown. Many people (us included) didn't believe Hopper was truly dead at the end of season three. There were over a dozen compelling clues that indicated he had survived the explosion in the Russians' underground lab.

But we thought the reveal of how he survived would be super cool, like maybe he managed to dive into the Upside Down but encountered Russians inside and was detained. Or maybe he had found a secret escape route that led right into a Russian trap?

But no. He was just knocked out on a lower platform, and then somehow a bunch of Russians had enough time to stroll through the bunker and find him before any of the Americans did? Eh. Like we said, obnoxiously simple.

Sadie Sink's entire performance this season could be on this list. Of course her Kate Bush moment was a highlight, as well as her deft acting during the opening counseling scene, but our favorite is actually the scene where Max figures out her fate. She's several steps ahead of all the other kids, and smartly connects dots that nobody else could.

The entire design of Vecna's curse is a strong allegory for mental disorders like depression and anxiety that can manifest in teenagers. When Max puts the pieces of the puzzle together, she has a detached determination about her, like she just wants it to be over with.

Eventually, she learns to reach out to her friends for help, but watching her confront her fate and seemingly surrender to it at the same time is one of the best emotional punches of "Stranger Things" season four.

OK, first of all, not to endorse violence or anything, but Angela kinda deserved a smack on the nose. Maybe not all that damage, but still. There wasn't a single witness in that whole roller rink who could tell the cops that Angela had been viciously bullying Eleven and technically attacked first with the whole milkshake/falling incident?

On top of that, we can't believe the justice process allows for a CHILD to be arrested, interrogated, and then transferred to a second facility without a single adult present on her behalf. No lawyer? No waiting until Joyce returns a call before transferring her?

Clearly there just needed to be a plot device that separated Eleven from the other kids and triggered Dr. Owen finding her (we're guessing because she was entered into the jail system, it blew her cover and Owen was notified). But a few different details for this scene would have made it a lot stronger.

Throughout this season, the darker tone does a good job of showing a new level of high stakes for the kids. With Eleven, Mike, Will, and Jonathan out in California, they're spared the supernatural threat of Vecna. This time around, it's adults with guns they need to worry about.

This scene works so well because the audience has been led to understand that Owen's people are the "good government guys." But the crew in California have no way of knowing that. They're scared, and completely isolated from any responsible adults like Joyce or Hopper.

Mike has been running from or trying to fight murderous government officials since he was like 11 years old — of course he and the others boys have a distrust of anyone who flashes them a badge.

It really puts into perspective the scope of how much has happened to them, and how much they've grown up, that Mike Wheeler went from stowing a government kidnap victim in his basement to receiving classified letters from the hands of rebellious State Department officials.

Hopper's first escape attempt, which plays out in episodes three and four, is gruesome, painful, and ultimately unsuccessful. After bribing one of his fellow prisoners to cleave the shackles off of his ankles as they work on a railroad, Hopper walks around on an injured ankle for many hours before he actually makes a break for it, and undergoes the process of prying the shackle off his traumatized foot multiple times.

While he's eventually captured in a church, it's a wonder that he makes it as far as he does and outruns the soldiers at all on that kind of foot injury. Ultimately, the attempt is nauseating to watch and feels far-fetched.

Steve gets stuck on babysitting duty again this season, hanging out with Dustin, Lucas, and Max while Nancy and Robin investigate Victor Creel. And on what very well may be the last day of her life, given that Vecna's inflicted his curse upon her, Max needs him to give her a ride to her brother's grave as well.

Steve is no match for Max, who tells him in no uncertain terms that if he won't drive her, he's going to have to forcibly keep her in place, which would amount to kidnapping a minor.

"If I live to see another day Steve, I swear to god, I will prosecute," she tells him.

Despite the tense mood, it's a delightful and snappy exchange between Keery and Sink, both of whom are highlights in the first part of season four.

Billy's death is a large reason why Max is vulnerable to Vecna's curse, as she still feels guilt over his demise at the end of season three. The show isn't keen to let you forget how Billy died, showing him being impaled over and over again by the Mind Flayer throughout the first few episodes.

Obviously, Max is still grieving Billy's death, which she witnessed herself. But seeing him die in front of her multiple times begins to feel a bit grating by the time she finally manages to break free of Vecna's hold at the end of episode four.

Finally, a nice moment for Will Byers! This conversation, and Mike's apology, is way overdue. But it's sweet to get to see them finally connecting again, especially right before everything goes sideways.

All throughout season three, all Will wanted was to feel like his friendships with Mike, Lucas, and Dustin weren't slipping away. They stopped wanting to play D&D, and focused on girls instead. Now that Will is across the country, the boys started up D&D again and apparently stopped trying to maintain their friendship with Will.

We really hope Will gets the better end of things in part two of season four, but for now at least he's resolved some tension with Mike.

While we could appreciate the comedic dynamism of Joyce and Murray, their mission to rescue Hopper had the unnecessary add-in of an elaborate Yuri character. Added to the fact that Joyce seems too quick to lose interest in getting ahold of her kids back home (who happen to be in mortal danger again), it adds up to a less enjoyable time.

Inside an already lengthened season, with every single episode clocking in at at least an hour and 10 minutes, these moments can feel like a drag.

Robin initially seems like a liability when she and Nancy try to sweet-talk the director of Pennhurst Mental Hospital into letting them speak with Victor Creel.

But when she launches into what seems like a disastrous tirade about how uncomfortable her clothes are, it morphs into a passionate, extemporaneous speech about wanting to be taken seriously as a woman in psychology, and how hearing the story of Victor Creel ignited her passion for the field.

It's a stunning, incredibly moving farce, made perfect by Maya Hawke's impassioned delivery.

Look, we totally get what they're going for here with the "satanic panic" of the '80s and the demonizing behavior of angry, entitled white men. The actor (Mason Dye) nails it — but the season has one too many of these sermon/monologue scenes in it for our taste.

By the time we get to the town hall, his insistence on religious explanations behind everything feels way too hammed-up and like an interruption to the best action scenes.

It makes sense that the people of Hawkins would eventually catch onto something weird happening, but taking orders from a pastor-like high school boy is a tad too much.

The way Jamie Campbell Bower's character totally comes to life in a new way is awesome to behold. His villain monologue is perfectly delivered and paired with great scenes of Nancy (who herself is awesome this season) watching young Henry in the Creel House.

As we explain in our deeper dive here, Henry's reveal makes so many previously confusing moments in "Stranger Things" much more clear. Now we have a clearer timeline that shows how and, perhaps most importantly, why Hawkins is the centerpoint for a supernatural link to the Upside Down. Everything that's happened with the Upside Down can be traced back to Henry, making scenes in earlier seasons much more compelling.

Read more on how "The Massacre at Hawkins Lab" changed everything here, and see a timeline of all the major events in "Stranger Things" (and how Eleven, Henry, and the Upside Down are linked) here.

The reveal of Vecna's identity was a stunning revelation that tied together the disparate threads of season four. One part of his backstory felt a bit bizarre, however — apparently, finding a nest of black widow spiders in his family's Hawkins, Indiana home was the key to clarifying his purpose.

Henry explains to Eleven that stumbling upon the spiders, which feature heavily in the visions brought about by Vecna's curse, made him realize that humans were imposing an "unnatural" structure on the world that was "dictated by made up rules." The spiders, he explains, were solitary creatures that were gods of their world, stabilizing their ecosystem. Like them, he wants to be a "predator, but for good."

The comparison technically works, but it's takes a long time for Vecna to get to the point and explain what about the spiders actually made him have his epiphany. Frankly, the entire thing feels just a bit too on the nose.